One thing I like to do as a way to help bring my story world to life, is to make a collage of the events or settings in the story. This time, however, a regular collage didn’t seem to be working for Theo Four. For one thing, collages are big and tend to evoke a story world rather than represent it, and for this Theo book, I needed factual specifics. It takes place in Cairo and Luxor in 1907, both real places and real times, so I am somewhat constrained by, you know, reality. And in order to write about it, I need to see it. But if I paste the old photos I find on a collage board, they become lost or overwhelmed.

Well this weekend, I stumbled upon a fix to this conundrum. I decided that instead of creating a collage board for this Theodosia book, I’d create a travel journal such as Theo herself might have kept to record her trips.

(Sorry about the glare.)

So now I’ve been cutting and pasting all the old photos I’ve found in my research into this book, then making notations and observations in Theo’s voice next to each picture.

This is doing two things. It’s a great way to accumulate all the research visuals I need in one place and in chronological order, and it’s allowing me to focus on seeing them through Theo’s eyes. It’s really helped me “get into the mood” for writing this book.

And now, for the announcement you’ve all been waiting for…

The Grand Prize Winner of a copy of THEODOSIA AND THE LAST PHARAOH and a copy of THEODOSIA AND THE EYES OF HORUS is…Eaden!

The Second Prize Winner is Raelynn, who will receive a copy THEODOSIA AND THE LAST PHARAOH

And the third prize winner of a copy of THEODOSIA AND THE EYES OF HORUS is Olivia!

You guys did so good on these contest questions! I was quite impressed. I used Random Number Generator to select the winners. All nine of you who got all the questions right were put in the hopper for the Grand Prize, then all eleven of  you were put into the hat for the second and third prize.

Please email me (using the contact page on the website here) with your name and physical address so I can mail your books to you. Be sure and get your parents permission first!

Thanks so much for participating! And for being such awesome readers.

All-righty, then! I think it’s time to have a contest to celebrate the publication of THEODOSIA AND THE LAST PHARAOH, don’t you?

Theodosia considers herself something of an expert on Egyptian magic. This contest will test your knowledge of Theodosia’s magical practices and skills. There will be nine questions taken from the first three books. Whoever answers them correctly will be put in a drawing for a grand prize of both a signed copy of the new THEODOSIA AND THE LAST PHARAOH and a copy of the new paperback THEODOSIA AND THE EYES OF HORUS.

The second place prize will be a signed copy of THEODOSIA AND THE LAST PHARAOH and the third prize will be a signed paperback of THEODOSIA AND THE EYES OF HORUS.

The rules are this: Answer as many of the below questions as you can in a comment to this post. The comments are on moderated status so no one else will see your answers–that way no one can peek or cheat. (Not that any of you would ever cheat!) Being the first to answer them does not increase your chance of winning, so take your time with finding the right answers.

If no one gets them all right, then whoever gets the most right will be the winner. If more than one person gets the same number of answers, then all those names will be put into a hat and the winners drawn from those names.

1. What substance does Theodosia use in the Second Level Test?
2. What do curses smell like?
3. What color threads did Theo use in one of her many attempts to undemonize Isis?
4. What did Theo use to put the statue of Anubis back to sleep?
5. When Theo was cataloging the items down in the catacombs, she found a highly valued object inside some canopic jars. What were they?
6. While researching the Staff of Osiris, Theodosia learns that Ramses III used the staff to create—what?
7. What is another name for the Emerald Tablet?
8. What sort of glyphs and symbols are etched on the Emerald Tablet?
9. How many oils does Theo need for the Opening of the Mouth ceremony?

The contest will run until next Saturday night, April 9, at midnight. Good luck! And have fun!

At long last, o patient ones! The newest preview of the upcoming THEODOSIA AND THE LAST PHARAOH (coming April 4, 2011!)

Chapter Two: The Mother of All Museums

If you’ve ever had the experience of being given a lovely apple, all rosy and full of promise, only to bite into it to find a wormy rotten core, then you will understand the feeling I had when I first stepped into the Egyptian Museum.

It was a large, impressive building full of hundreds—if not thousands—of ancient artifacts I would never see anywhere else. However, when I stepped inside, the force of the black magic, heka, and lingering mut nearly brought me to my knees. In fact, I actually stumbled as the magic rising off of centuries’ worth of discoveries pressed down on me. It felt as if every artifact in the place had left a trace of itself behind in the vestibule of the museum, like Mother’s perfume when she leaves the room. Only this wasn’t the charming smell of lilacs or lily of the valley.  This was a thick miasma of magic and curses. Far removed from the source of their power, they buzzed faintly through the air, an invisible swarm of tiny malevolent insects. With so much of it contained in such a confined space, there was the distinct sense of pressure building—like the air just before a thunderstorm. Read the rest of this entry »

As promised, a second sneak peek at THEODOSIA AND THE LAST PHARAOH! (The book itself will be out in April.) Enjoy!

Chapter One: THE WRETCHED RETICULE (continued)

Mr. Bing deposited me next to Mother, then braved the crowd once more to oversee our luggage.

Outside the train station, the smell of old magic was stronger and mixed with the heat and the dust and something a little bit . . . gamey. I turned to find a small herd of donkeys and donkey boys waiting nearby. That was it; the smell of donkey.

Finally all of our belongings were duly collected and we loaded ourselves and our luggage into the conveyance. The driver slapped the reins and the carriage moved forward.

Read the rest of this entry »

Wow. Has it really been six weeks since I posted here last?? So sorry, all! I’ve been busier than I thought.

BUT, I will now make it up to you by posting the cover for Theo Four, THEODOSIA AND THE LAST PHARAOH. It’s hard to say just how many different ways I love this cover!

I also want to leave you with a link to a fellow Theodosia reader’s blog whose family, the Derringdos took a trip to England and while there, gave themselves a Theodosia Throckmorton Tour of London, and visited many of the places in the Theodosia books! How cool is that? I want to go with them on their next family vacation!

Back soon with more answers to your questions from the last couple of posts!

Wow, the time sure got away from me on THAT one! My only excuse is that I’ve been writing, writing, writing. I know, it’s the same excuse I always give, because it is always true.

Bibliophile asked how long, on average, does it take me to write a first draft.

That’s a great question and there are a bunch of different answers, depending on the book involved. A first draft can take as little as two months or as long as three years, depending on how long the book is, how much time I have to devote to it, and how easy it is to write. For example, Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos took me about two years to write a good solid first draft, BUT, I was only working on it on the weekends as a side project. During the week I had another trilogy I was writing. (The Lowthar’s Blade books, in case you’re wondering.) So that took a long time to get a first draft down, but I also think all that extra time made the story richer and better. I wasn’t rushing anything, my ideas had time to develop, and I had lots of time to get to know the characters.

The Nathaniel Fludd Beastologist books are much shorter, and the first draft of the first book only took about three months to write, BUT, I’d been thinking about that series for about three or four years, letting the idea roll around in my  head for a long time. Again, I’d had a long time to think about what might work and what might not, what I’d already seen a lot of in other books and what I wanted to do differently.

In this book I just finished, a YA historical fantasy, it took me FOUR years to get a solid first draft. Part of it is that is is a reeeeeally long book (over 450 pages!) but also that it was a very complicated story. It required a lot of research and world building and complex character dynamics. Plus I had to write it inbetween all the Theodosia and Nathaniel Fludd books.

I don’t think there’s any point in hurrying that first draft. If writing is fun, and it should be, why not take your time and play with it? At least, that’s what I do!

Paige asked: What made you chose Egyptian mythology, not Native American, Celtic, Nordic, Roman, or Greek mythology?

Oo! Good question. One big reason I chose Egyptian was because that’s what has always fascinated ME. Although I am also fascinated by Celtic mythology, well all the other mythologies, actually. But there was already a very popular series with Greek mythology, and Roman mythology felt very close to Greek mythology, so I didn’t want to use that. As for Native American mythology, I didn’t quite feel right using that for an entire book since I don’t have a lot of Native American blood in me. Plus it’s not something I know nearly enough about.  I do still plan to write books involving the other mythologies, though, just not quite yet.

Adriana asked: What was theodosia’s biggest challenge at the museum of legends and antiquities?

Wow! Another great question! Theodosia’s biggest challenge is keeping her parents safe while avoiding telling them about what’s going on. The thing is, she’d love to tell them, if she thought for one minute they’d believe her, but she’s pretty convinced they won’t. She doesn’t like lying to them, but she can’t ignore all the black magic and vile curses. So for her, the biggest challenge is just trying to balance all the different needs.

And I think that’s long enough for one post!

Mae asked what books do I like, and the answer is ALL kinds! I love all sorts of books! Some books that I’ve read recently that you might enjoy are:

Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter by R. J. Anderson

The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Thief of Attolia, Queen of Attolia, and King of Attolia  by Megan Whalen Turner

The Lost Conspiracy by Francis Hardinge

The Swam Maiden by Heather Tomlinson

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

The Boneshaker by Kate Milford

Mae also asked which Egyptian ruler I thought was the coolest, and that is hard! Hatshepsut is very cool, not least because she was one of the very few women pharaohs. Thutmose III was a pretty strong ruler, too. And Ramses II was an amazing builder. Gosh. I don’t know if I could pick ONE favorite, but those are three of my favorites.

Adriana, I wouldn’t say that the Theodosia books are about Egyptology, but Theo’s parents are Egyptologists, and she deals a lot with Egyptian artifacts and research. The next book is called, THEODOSIA AND THE LAST PHARAOH.

Amelia asked where I get my ideas. I think ideas are absolutely EVERYWHERE. They are all around us, we have only to open our eyes and pay attention. I have a harder time not being bombarded with ideas. Or forgetting cool ones that I don’t want to forget.   Like you, I have a small notebook I carry with me everywhere, and then I have a lot of notebooks all over the house full of ideas I’d like to turn into a story someday.

One of the things I do, since I have so very many ideas, is to try and be sure an idea is really story-worthy; that it truly has enough meat on its bones to make a good dramatic story. Sometimes ideas are just that, ideas, and don’t really have enough conflict or drama to be developed into an entire book. History and ancient civilizations and anthropology are great sources of ideas for me.

And as for tips for writing, well that is a huge subject. I write a LOT about the writing process on my author blog (http://rllafevers.blogspot.com) and have some tips on the Writer’s Page of my author website, but I will  do a separate post on some writing tips in the next week or two.

Kaitlyn asked if there has been some movie interest in Theodosia, but nothing that’s actually gotten off the ground. Believe me, if and when that happens, I will shout it from the rooftops!

Amelia and Collin both wanted to know how many books are planned, well, I’m not sure. I have tons more ideas for Theodosia adventures so we’ll just have to see how it goes. A lot of that isn’t really up to me, but is decided by the publisher based on sales numbers and that sort of thing.

Thanks for all the great questions!

Thanks so much for all the great questions in the comments! And keep them coming! I will be answering a few each week.

From Kaitlyn: How are the Nathaniel Fludd Books coming?

Very well, thank you! I have finished up the fourth one and have just received a copy of the cover for it. Here’s a peek at the new cover.

Also, Kaitlyn asked if I have any new ideas for books, and I do! It’s just that I don’t really talk about them until they’re finished, so I can’t say much. Sorry!

Collin, there will be at least five Theodosia books and probably more. As always, with everything in publishing, it depends on sales numbers. The final title for Book Four is THEODOSIA AND THE LAST PHARAOH, and it comes out May of 2011. The working title of Book Five is THEODOSIA AND THE FLAME OF SEKHMET, but that is subject to change. It will be coming out sometime in 2012, most likely.

kalifaziz asked when the next contest is, and I have to think one up first! But you’re right, we are definitely due for one.

kalifaziz aso said: “the ben ue bird is the perfect energy that created the world. you should really be careful for immature reasearch from rambontious anthropologist’

You know, there are actually a number of theories on the origins of the benu bird. Most of what we know we are guessing from clues left behind or trying to decipher earlier writings. Also remember, that Theodosia was working with information from 100 years ago. We have learned about archaeology and interpreting the past since then. So just because Theo’s story of the origin of the benu bird is different from yours, doesn’t make it immature research. She is just using different sources.

Okay boys and girls, I know I have only been able to post here every month or so, but now that I’ve met so many of my deadlines, I would like to post here more often. One of the things that would help me is knowing what YOU’D like to hear about. Do you have any questions about the books (ones that don’t include spoilers!) or about the writing process or about anything at all. I’ll do my best to answer them. Leave your questions in the comments and I’ll use them for blog topics in the next few weeks.

I’ve also done some updating of the site, most notably adding information about school visits on the Teacher and Librarian pageI wan since I get asked that question so often, and links to a number of interviews I’ve done on the About the Author page.

And no, they don’t really have anything to do with each other.

There has been a fair amount of confusion in the comments so I thought I’d post here to clarify.

The third Theodosia book, THEODOSIA AND THE EYES OF HORUS, is out now.

The fourth Theodosia book, THEODOSIA AND THE LAST PHARAOH, will be out May of 2011.  Hopefully that will clear things up for those of you wondering when the next Theo book will be out.

And now for the owl, because Theo readers are smart and clever and owls are smart and clever, this one especially so. I never knew owls could be so versatile!

P.S. Also, if you leave your comments on really old posts, it is harder for me to find and respond to them.

For all you budding Egyptologists out there, I thought this article was fascinating. It mulls over the possibility that Cleopatra did not die from the bite of an asp, but from poison instead! bit.ly/dm5XlK

And as if that weren’t enough ancientness and history in the news, another article talks about the discovery that the ancient beast, Leviathan, was real! And they have the fossils to prove it! (Although really, any of the beastologists from the Nathaniel Fludd books could have told them that.) http://bit.ly/cGv5tP

Seriously though, this is why I love writing historical fantasy. There are just so many mysteries out there we don’t really know the answers to!

Here’s a place to share  your writerly thoughts with each other!

A lot of the emails I get have asked me about the new series I’m writing in addition to Theodosia, so I thought I’d mention it here. It’s called, NATHANIEL FLUDD, BEASTOLOGIST, and tells the story of Nate Fludd, whose parents are lost at sea so he is sent off to live with a mysterious unknown relative who turns out to be the world’s last remaining beastologist. It is now Nate’s job to help take care of the world’s mythical beasts.

I have had a blast writing this series. I’ve always adored animals, and we had a ton of them when I was a kid, including some very exotic ones; a goat (we lived in a city) chipmunks, about eight cats, three dogs, chickens, an anteater, and for a few brief weeks, two baby bear cubs. So yeah, animals were a huge part of my childhood.

The idea for this series came about when two different things I’d been reading about kind of crashed into each other. I’d read a newspaper article about a couple of new species of animals that had been discovered in some wild, desolate place. It made me realize how there really are so many pockets of uncharted territory in our world, who knew what lived there?

I was also doing some research for a medieval book I was working on and stumbled across medieval bestiaries, books that documented all the creatures the medieval scholars believed existed at that time, and I was struck by how many mythical beasts had once been thought to really exist.

And then I thought, well, who’s to say they didn’t exist?

Thus Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist, was born.

Now a warning; these are much shorter, smaller, easier to read books that the Theodosia books. I specifically wanted to write something for slightly younger readers. However, many Theodosia readers (kids and adults) have enjoyed them. Just be forewarned that if you’ve read Theodosia, you can probably read these books in about an hour each. The first one, The Flight of the Phoenix came out in September last year. The second one, The Basilisk’s Lair, came out this week!

So that’s what I do when I’m not working on Theodosia or writing blog entries.

Okay, it looks like we’ve got the details finalized for the upcoming East Coast Book Tour.

Here are the places I’ll be:

Monday, May 17 3:30 – 5:00 at The Children’s Book Store in Baltimore, MD

Tuesday, May 18, 10:30 a.m. Politics and Prose, Washington DC

Wednesday, May 19, 4:00 p.m. Curious George Bookstore, Boston, Massechussetts

Thursday, May 20, 6:00 p.m*. Wellesley Booksmith, Wellesley, Massachusetts *Note the new time here–there was a mix up. The 4:00 time listed on Wellesly’s website is incorrect. It really is 6:00 pm.

Friday, May 21, 4:00 p.m. The Flying Pig Bookstore, Shelburne, Vermont

If you live close to any of these cities, I would LOVE to see some of you there!

Also, I was interviewed yesterday by a very accomplished eleven year old named Summer. My favorite question: Do you believe in curses? Check out the entire interview here.